Land Husbandry Group

Interests

The Land Husbandry Group's interests cover aspects of the properties, dynamics, resilience and good management of land resources, from which agricultural, environmental and social benefits are derived.

Land husbandry comprises both agro-ecological and socio-economic aspects. The key focus of the LH Group is for better understanding of the ecological foundations of sustainable agricultural land uses, and how soil/plant ecosystems' health and productive capacity can be optimised and maintained under varied systems of land-use.

The effects of improved land husbandry are clearly shown by well-managed mulch-based zero-till (ZT) systems of agriculture, also known as Conservation Agriculture (CA). The principles and practices of better land husbandry have been fully validated by the widely-adopted experiences of farmers and researchers in Brazil and elsewhere, and havethe principles and practices of better land husbandry have proved very beneficial to the health, productivity and conservation of the soil, to more stable crop production and the economics of farming, to water-availability for plants, to food security, to the wider environment, and to people's livelihoods.

Purpose

The purpose of the Group's international work is to:

Study improvements in land husbandry and their consequential effects in any country.

Network with other organisations and people interested in land husbandry.

Influence policies and strategies, research, and activities which contribute to improving land husbandry in any situation worldwide.

Provide talks and materials concerning land husbandry in the linked spheres of agriculture (soil health) and environment (watershed management) which can enrich training of both pre-service and in-service staff of government and non-government organisations.

Bring relevant experiences of land husbandry in tropical agriculture into focus in UK and other temperate countries.